More fire evacuees to head home

WINNIPEG — Rain and cooler temperatures brought relief to fire-ravaged Manitoba and Saskatchewan Monday, allowing fire bans to be reduced and more evacuees to go home.

The weather helped fire crews get an upper hand in parts of northern Manitoba to clear the way for some of the 21,000 or more evacuees to start returning home.

David Monias, chief of Pimicikamak Cree Nation, reposted video of heavy rainfall on social media along with video of small planes leaving Winnipeg with evacuees who were forced out almost three weeks earlier.

“Our people are coming home,” Monias wrote on Facebook, adding the community’s infrastructure is intact and water systems have been tested by health officials.

“Pimicikamak Cree Nation has begun the safe and gradual repatriation of our evacuees back to the community.”

The community and surrounding area, comprising some 7,000 people, was among the largest evacuated during an especially dry, hot spring this year.

Elsewhere, people in Snow Lake, Sherridon and Herb Lake Landing were allowed to return on the weekend. Hudbay Minerals also restarted its Snow Lake mining operations.

Other residents, however, were asked to stay patient.

The roughly 5,000 residents of Flin Flon were told a nearby fire might ramp up again after the area received only a small amount of rain. The 3,700 square-kilometre fire, north and east of the city, remained out of control.

“We’re working (on) doing some scans with the drones and aircraft to understand where some of the hottest areas are so that we can prioritize where we’re going to focus our efforts,” said Kristin Hayward from the provincial wildfire service.

People running critical businesses have begun to re-enter Flin Flon, but the general community will have to wait, partly because there are no health services and limited fire protection is available, municipal officials said.

There were 18 fires still burning across Manitoba, with seven of them listed as out of control.

In Saskatchewan, a provincewide fire ban was set to be lifted later Monday due to rain and cooler weather helping firefighters.

Steve Roberts from the province’s public safety agency said there had been no significant changes to the four major fires but that crews were working to contain them while the weather stayed favourable.

Public Safety Minister Tim McLeod said people across 34 communities were in the process of returning home and he hoped to see that trend continue.

The fire debate also featured fireworks between Premier Scott Moe’s governing Saskatchewan Party and the Opposition NDP over a new water bomber that sat unused because there was no one to fly it.

McLeod told a virtual news conference that pilots started training on the plane but had to change course and fight the fires.

Roberts said he tried to find qualified pilots to fly the new plane, which was grounded in La Ronge, Sask., but no one was available.

Saskatchewan had 13 fires as of Monday, five of which were not contained.

» The Canadian Press